White House invites dead Kiwi's family

By DANIEL JACKSON

The wife and children of New Zealander Alan Beaven are joining other families of victims from the terrorist attack on the United States at a function in the White House today.

Mr Beaven, aged 48, was one of 45 people on board the hijacked United Airlines Flight 93 who were killed when the plane crashed near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Beaven family friend Dr Richard Gillett said from New York yesterday that Mr Beaven's widow, Kimi, and three children had been invited to the White House.

"I think all the families of the victims of Flight 93 have been invited," Dr Gillett said.

The White House said last night that President George W. Bush and the first lady, Laura Bush, had asked to speak to families of the victims of the four jet hijackings on September 11.

At the weekend, Mr Beaven's first wife, Elizabeth, their sons John, 21, and Chris, 18, Kimi Beaven and daughter Sonali, 5, visited the crash site with Dr Gillett.

Dr Gillett said the visit, which was organised by United Airlines, helped the family and other bereaved relatives of Flight 93 victims to come to grips with what had happened.

"I think it's helped with the completion - especially as there is no body."

Dr Gillett said the group had to stand almost a kilometre away from the crash site as a heavy military and security presence guarded the area while FBI agents carried out the investigation.

He said that while they could not get close to the site, they were able to get a feel for where their loved ones died.

"The plane crashed in an almost idyllic spot, next to a wood and among picturesque hills."

A service was later held in a nearby hall where US Vice-President Dick Cheney's wife, Lynne, spoke of the country's gratitude to the passengers on the plane.

Said Dr Gillett: "There were many people there who were deeply grateful to the people on board because they think the hijackers were headed for the White House."

The flight has been at the centre of attention for the media and investigators because it is thought that passengers on board, learning by cellphone calls of the fate of other planes, attacked the hijackers, bringing down the jet. The black box - the plane's voice-recording device - has been recovered.

Mr Beaven, a lawyer educated at the University of Auckland, worked for the law firm Berman DeValerio Pease Tabacco Burt and Pucillo, where he was a leading environment specialist, representing various groups in high-profile cases in California.

He met his first wife at Auckland University and the pair travelled overseas in 1976, two years after he graduated with honours. They parted on friendly terms in 1986 and Mr Beaven then met Kimi.

His elderly parents live in Australia and his brother Ralph lives in New Zealand.

Mr Beaven had a diverse legal career, which included stints as a law professor at King's College in London, a criminal defence lawyer and prosecutor in Britain and posts in other countries.

He had long practised meditation and Siddha yoga and was active in the SYDA Foundation, an international non-profit organisation dedicated to humanitarian and spiritual work.

On the morning he died, Mr Beaven was heading to San Francisco to try one last case - a water pollution hearing - before deciding whether to go to India as an SYDA volunteer.

A private service for Mr Beaven was held yesterday at the New York home of Dr Gillett, who said another was planned for this week for Mr Beaven's friends on the west coast of the United States.

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Emergency telephone numbers:

United Airlines: 0168 1800 932 8555

American Airlines: 0168 1800 245 0999

NZ Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade: 0800 872 111

US Embassy in Wellington (recorded info): 04 472 2068